KAWAII)+
by chibiANGEL
Summary: some stupid fanfic i started at 2 in the morning, and my sister said it sounded funny, so i'm continuing it. not sure why. :::rolls eyes:::
1. Default Chapter Title

Duo stopped his tinkering on Deathscythe HELL to notice Trowa's entrance into the hangar. As usual, Trowa walked with a soft tread and didn't say a word as he walked to his gundam. Duo peered at him one more time. There was something different...  
  
"Hey, Trowa," he called. "Why are you wearing Quatre's clothes?" Then, cheekily, "They're a little small on you."  
  
Trowa scowled at him. "My clothes were burnt," he said curtly.  
  
He had Duo's full attention. "Burnt?!" he yelped. "How did that happen?"  
  
Trowa shrugged, beginning to run a routine check on Heavyarms. "Quatre and the Manguanacs decided to have a cook-out... inside."  
  
Duo yelped again. "What?!" He started to run out the hangar to check his own things when he was stopped by laughter. In the doorway were Quatre and Rashid, laughing, standing with Wufei, also laughing. Even Heero had to crack a smile.  
  
"April Fools," Heero smirked.  
  
Duo glared at Trowa, who was also bearing a smirt. "Since when do you guys celebrate April Fools Day?"  
  
"Since Rashid dug up stories about it and we decided it would be fun," Quatre explained, coming forward. He was grinning, and it was quite infectuous. Duo had to grin.  
  
"Thanks, guys. I thought all my stuff was burnt to a cip," Duo retorted, starting to laugh.  
  
Heero had since walked up to Wing ZERO and begun inspection. Several Manguanacs were already all over Sandrock.  
  
"April Fools, huh?" Duo murmured to himself. "Okay, I can do that." He snickered.  
  
Wufei was the only one in hearing range; he looked at Duo oddly. "What?"  
  
"Oh, nothing," Duo answered brightly.  
  
Cathrine ran in at that moment (the circus was near the hangar at that time). "Trowa!" she shouted. Trowa turned around. She beckoned quickly. When he looked confused, she wordlessly ran forward, grabbed him by the arm, and bodily dragged him out of the hangar.  
  
Everyone paused for a moment to watch.  
  
"Master Quatre, uh.." Rashid began.  
  
Quatre shrugged. "I have no idea, Rashid."  
  
"Alright," Duo said to absolutely nobody. "Great. Just bring him back sometime!" he shouted out the hangar door, knowing full well Cathrine and Trowa were far off.  
  
"She seemed in a hurry." Heero observed from atop the catwalk.  
  
Duo scratched his head. It was only 7 in the morning and the day baffled him already. Not usually a good sign. He sighed and returned his attention to Deathscythe HELL.  
  
  
Duo and Rashid always chomped down breakfast with gusto. Usually Quatre wasn't far behind, but today he turned slightly pale at the table.  
  
"Hey, Quatre, you okay?" Duo said, the moment his mouth was clear to speak.  
  
"Master Quatre, perhaps-" Rashid began.  
  
Quatre cut him off. "I'm fine. Just not hungry." He pushed his bowl of oatmeal away.  
  
Wufei glanced at him. "You don't look okay. If you're sick, lie down. If not, you should eat to keep your energy." The others nodded agreement.  
  
Trowa talked in and immediately forestalled one of the Manguanacs' offering of a bowl. "Cathrine fed me."  
  
There was a pause for a moment. "So what was that about?" Heero finally asked.  
  
Trowa shrugged. "Nothing." He sat down in an empty seat. Another pause. "Doesn't matter," he added.  
  
Quatre, meanwhile, turned a couple shades paler. This time, Duo, Trowa, and Rashid all at once began telling Quatre to go lie down.  
  
"Please, no!" Quatre protested. "I'm okay, really!" The pilot got to his feet, backing away slightly, trying to smile and look like he was okay. He stumbled. Rashid caught him.  
  
"Master Quatre, I have to insist-" he began.  
  
Quatre interrupted him (again), "Do I smell smoke?"  
  
"Funny," Duo quipped. "Thanks, I'm not falling for it again."  
  
"No," Quatre waved at him impatiently, with the arm Rashid wasn't holding to support him. "Really. From over there," he gestured vaguely down the hell.  
  
Everyone didn't move for a second. 3 Manguanacs were the first to bolt in that direction, closely followed by 4 Gundam pilots and the rest of the Manguanacs, minus Rashid.  
  
Rashid settled Quatre gently on a chair. "Master Quatre, I think you're sick."  
  
"No!" Quatre insisted. "Rashid, I don't *get* sick!"  
  
"There's a fire!" a faint voice from down the hall called. There was a minor scuffle as everyone grabbed buckets to get water.  
  
Quatre added petulantly, "And I don't have time to get sick, anyways."  
  
Rashid sighed. "There's a first time for everything," he affirmed. "And sickness doesn't come at 'convenient" times."  
  
"Stop it!" a loud female voice shrieked. "It was a *controlled* fire, couldn't you see?!"  
  
5 minutes later, the pilots, Manguanacs, and a girl trooped back into the kitchen/dining room. Two Manguanacs were holing the girl, who was struggling.  
  
Wearily, Trowa said to the Manguanacs, "Please let go of my cousin."  
  
Jaws dropped, Manguanacs released the girl, who looked at them all defiantly. "It was outside one of your windows, not inside," she explained to Quatre, in a soft voice that sounded dangerous. "A small bonfire. Pretty. And then your soldiers have to come and put it ou!" she almost yelled.  
  
"My cousin's a pyromaniac," Trowa told his fellow pilots discretely.  
  
"Woman, you cold have burned down this building!" Wufei wasn't about to be intimidated by a girl.  
  
"I wouldn't've," she replied coolly.  
  
"And her name's Trissa," Trowa added.  
  
Suddenly, Trissa smiled. "Nice to meet you guys," she rpactically bubbled. She stepped up to Quatre, leaned down, as he was sitting, to be face-to-face with him, and asked in a softer tone, "Are you okay?"  
  
A flush creeped into Quatre's face as he blushed from the nearness of this seemingly random girl. "I - I'm fine," he muttered, looking pointedly at Rashid.  
  
"He's *not* fine," Rashid said firmly.  
  
"Your COUSIN!??!?" Duo finally blurted out. "Okay, April Fools, I get it. Who is she really?"  
  
In the same moment, Rashid and Quatre did a double take at her. "I think I recognize you from somewhere," Quatre murmured.  
  
"Very good," she replied cheekily. "I am Aetrissiana Nicolette May-Rose Skye."  
  
"Skye Communications!" Duo and Quatre nearly yelped at the same time.  
  
"That's my daddy," she snickered. "I'm Trowa's - he goes by Troas? Odd name - second cousin, really, but it's all the same to me," she said, shrugging a little and smiling again.  
  
Quatre blanched and had to lean on Rashid.  
  
"Master Quatre is going to bed," Rashid excused themselves amid more, albeit faint, protests from Quatre.  
  
"Your father really owns Skye Communications?" Wufei asked incredulously. Duo had since returned to his oatmeal, although it was slightly cold.  
  
"Mm-hm," she nodded.  
  
"What's Trowa's real name?" Duo asked curiously between mouthfuls. Wufei and Heero reseated themselves and returned to eating.  
  
Trissa glanced at Trowa, who shrugged. "He was called Sebastian Tisor Bloom," she said slowly. "Daddy always talked about how my cousin Sebastian had disappeared sa a child, and how he was never seen again, even when my father somehow believed he was still alive. And -" she added in an amused tone, "- apparently several million dollars wasn't enough to find him then. And now, I find him by accident."  
  
"Cathrine brought her here," Trowa said calmly, forestalling more questions. This time he accepted a bowl from a Manguanac. Scooping myself some oatmeal, he began to eat.  
  
"Want some?" Duo offered, waving at the pot of oatmeal.  
  
Trissa peered in, then wrinkled her nose slightly. "No thanks," she said as delicately as possible. "I'm not hungry."  
  
"Cathrine fed her too," Trowa told everyone.  
  
There was a moment of silence as everyone continuted eating.  
  
"So," Trissa said slightly awkwardly, steping forward to the table. "What're your names?"  
  
"Duo," the said worthy replied, before gulping down a mug of water.  
  
There was silence again.  
  
"Aww, okay. They don't talk much," Duo grumbled. "That's Heero, and that's Wufei. And Quatre was the one who went to bed."  
  
"Okay," Trissa nodded and sat down on the edge of a chair.  
  
Trowa watched her warily.  
  
Duo finally finished eating and leaned back, pushing his bowl away. "All right," he said to no one in particular.  
  
Before he could say anything else, though, they heard firing outside. For a moment, everyone froze. Then the gundam pilots jerked out of their seats and headed for the hangar. Trowa paused a moment to say, "Trissa, stay here. You'll get hurt." Then he, too, bolted out the door.  
  
Trissa waited a moment, then went to a window cautiously. There were several Mobile Suits outside, and the Manguanacs were already outside, fighting them.  
  
As Duo strapped himself into Deathscythe HELL, he muttered to himself, "April Fools, Quatre sick, Trowa having a pyromaniac cousin, and now OZ troops. Damn, what a day!"  
  
"Pay attention," Heero snapped as they maneuvered out of the hangar.  
  
"Yeah, yeah," Duo answered as he knocked down the first Leo.  
  
"Are they mobile dolls?" Wufei asked quickly, verring off to the right.  
  
"I don't think so," Duo answered as another went down to his scythe.  
  
Heero launched up into the air to deal with the carrieres still holding suits. All of a sudden, he heard a roar of engine beneath him. He glanced down... and immediatly swerved to the right, cursing under his breath.  
  
Trissa - it had to be Trissa - was in a custom made mobile suit, which had been hidden on the back of a large truck. Heero heard Trowa groan the moment he saw it.  
  
Almost before he realized what was happening, the ZERO system and his senses told Heero to duck down. A beam of fire flew by him and incinerated a mobile suit.  
  
"You almost killed him!" Trowa shouted to his cousin. "Trissa, *what* is *that*?!"  
  
"I call it Neko," Trissa replied, lashing out more fire. She ignored his first comment. "Daddy made it for me."  
  
"Onna! Don't interfere in things you don't understand!" Wufei nearly screeched as more fire crisped an Aries to his left.  
  
Trissa giggled nonchalantly and launched more firebolts.  
  
"Trissa behind you!" Trowa yelled, too late. A bolt from an Aries knocked Neko down. In a moment, the Aries was on top of her, about to shoot again. Trissa screamed ear-piercingly. The Aries' pilot flinched and in that second's time, Duo moved over close enough to skewer the Aries.  
  
"Watch your back," Heero snapped as he rose into the air again.  
  
"Geez," Duo said to Trissa. "That scream of yours is a weapong in itself!"  
  
Trissa giggled, as if completely ignoring the near-death experience she had just had. Instead, she turned and fired more fire balls in an arc, destroying 3 more Aries'.  
  
"And that firepower of yours is pretty good," Duo added, impressed.  
  
"Thanks. I harassed Daddy until he made me the best he could. And he knows I like playing with fire, so he equipped these with a lot of it."  
  
"Spoiled," Wufei muttered to himself.  
  
"Very," Trowa murmured in agreement.  
  
"I'm sorry for you," Heero said to Trowa, before knocking down a full carrier.  
  
The Manguanacs were holding their own with a group of Taurus' almost twice their number. Rashid had entered the battle after making sure Quatre was lying down and resting. Mobile suits were littering the area, and Trowa had to duck once as one went tumbling over him with the momentum of a blast from Trissa.  
  
"Trissa, please be more careful!" Trowa protested.  
  
"Sorry," she said blithely. She fired again.  
  
When the ground was completely piled with mobile suits, and all the carriers had been shot down, Trissa came out and sat at the edge of her mobile suit's doorway. She waved to everyone, as doors began to open.  
  
"We have to move!" Heero shouted from a couple hundred yards away. Everyone nodded agreement.  
  
As they trooped back inside, they found Quatre leaning in the doorway, demanding to know what had happened.  
  
"Today has been the most eventful day of my life!" Duo announced, collapsing into a comfortable chair. "After that fire business, OZ's mobile suits show up, and Trowa's cousin decides to help us fight."  
  
Quatre nearly collapsed from surprise. "What?"  
  
Trissa smiled sweetly. "Daddy made me a mobile suit 'cos I wanted one. I was just helping," she added, slightly petulantly, when several pilots glared at her.  
  
"You could have hurt one of us like that," Wufei said flatly. "You're too weak to command a mobile suit; you could've killed yourself. In fact, you almost *were* killed."  
  
"So?" Trissa retorted. "I'm not dead, am I?"  
  
"Thanks to Duo," Heero shot back, nodding in Duo's direction.  
  
"Woah," Duo suddenly said, bouncing up. "Don't bring me into this, guys. She did pretty good other than that." Everyone turned their glares at him. He wilted a little. "Sorry?"  
  
Several people sighed. Quatre looked about to fall, Trissa noticed. Before he collapsed completely, she draped his arm over his shoulders and gently pulled him to a couch before he could register what had happened. "Sit down," she told him calmly, when he tried to get up. "You don't look too good at all."  
  
"Were should we move to?" Heero said briefly.  
  
Everyone looked at each other.  
  
"Why are you moving?" Trissa asked.  
  
Trowa sighed impatiently. He had met someone related to him - something he'd probably wanted for a while - and now he wished he never had. "Because they know we're here," he said, much too patiently.  
  
"Oh."  
  
"She's a ditz," Duo murmured to Quatre, at his left, who nodded slightly in agreement. "Pretty, but a ditz." Quatre grinned a little.  
  
The pilots thought for a while, trying to think of another safe place.  
  
"There's a pl-" Rashid began.  
  
"You can come live in my house," Trissa interrupted. "Sorry," she said quickly, both for saying anything, and for interrupting Rashid, who was looking slightly peeved.  
  
Wufei rolled his eyes and began to stalk out. "Tell me when someone comes up with a good idea," he said before he left the room.  
  
"That's insane," Heero said flatly.  
  
"Why?"  
  
"How could be possibly all move into your house? You've got to have one huge house to house 40 Manguanacs and us 5 pilots, plus the gundams and suits," Duo began.  
  
"And wouldn't someone like your father or people who work with him notice?" Heero added icily. "And tell someone? Does your father maybe work for OZ?"  
  
"He's noncommitted," Trissa said nonchalantly. "Nobody under my father tells a soul anything. We don't take sides. At least," she said, with a grimace, "most people in my family don't. I have a tendency to be opinionated. Nobody told about *my* suit, and I've had it for a while now. I have a huge underground cavern. 40 suits and 5 gundams will fit."  
  
"That's insane," Quatre nearly shouted.  
  
Trissa smirked at him. "You of all people shouldn't say that," she said, smiling. "Come on, I'm sure you've got huge underground caverns, too."  
  
Quatre flushed at the mild reproof.  
  
Trowa, Heero, and Duo exchanged glances.  
  
"We need to get out of here soon," Trowa said in a low voice. Heero and Duo nodded.  
  
"Can you take on 45 extra people?" Duo asked practically.  
  
"Mm-hm," Trissa nodded. "I have parties. My housekeeper and maids have had to deal with 200 people."  
  
"For one night," Trowa pointed out. "We may need to stay a while."  
  
"Be my guest," Trissa smiled. "And my parties have lasted several nights. But I don't mind you staying for however long you want." She glanced at Quatre. "And we better get him something soothing to drink. He really doesn't look good." Quatre was almost as white as a sheet now, but his cheeks were incredibly flushed. He leaned back on the couch back. 


	2. Default Chapter Title

KAWAII part 2  
by: chibiANGEL (SHINIGAMInoKOI)  
Disclaimer: GW not mine. story mine.  
Notes: shonen-ai. stupidity. Triss is my made up character, who is quite a ditz, so ditz alert.  
  
  
  
  
2 hours later, a carrier and several trucks set off south by southwest, in a slow line. Within 20 minutes, they were joined by other trucks and various vehicles, some armed, some not.  
  
"Who are they?" Heero said tensely, gripping his gun. There were about 6 or 7 more vehicles around them.  
  
"Bodyguards," Trissa shrugged it off. "Quatre has Manguanacs, I have regular bodyguards. Daddy won't let me roam around without them. They don't tell secrets," she added, cutting off Heero's next comment.  
  
He glowered at her. "How do you know?"  
  
"I know," she said crisply. "Let it be."  
  
Heero wasn't happy, but he shut up. He didn't let go of his grip on his gun, though.  
  
"Heero," Trissa muttered. "Are you related to the Heero Y-"  
  
"No."  
  
There's an awful lot of interrupting with these people, Trissa thought to herself. She sighed and leaned back on the tarp covering her mobile suit. She'd declined a ride in the truck seat, saying it was more comfortable in the back. Heero had silently volunteered to stand guard in the back.  
  
The 6 trucks and 1 carrier seemed too conspicuous, Trowa thought. There was no way OZ wasn't going to find them this way.  
  
A buzzing overhead made him look up, then curse. "More mobile suits!" he yelled from his truck seat. Everyone screeched to a halt. The escort mumbled something into radios, then waved Trissa on.  
  
"What was that," Duo asked suspiciously.  
  
"More escort," Trissa said simply. "My dad sent them, let's keep going."  
  
"There's no way we're not going to be seen like this," Wufei finally yelled aloud from his truck.  
  
"There's plenty of way!" Trissa yelled back. "Anyone who gets close enough to see us gets fried!" She pointed at the trucks and mobile suits following. Wufei rolled his eyes and didn't object.  
  
But Heero had one more thing to say. Between clenched teeth, he said tightly, "This can't be safe. They have mobile dolls that could destroy all of us, right now."  
  
Trissa looked at him coolly. "Don't you have any faith in me?"  
  
"Why should I?"  
  
Trissa opened her mouth for a smart retort, then closed it, and shrugged. "Just trust me. I promise I won't let you down." A mischievous look came on her face. "My daddy knows I'm not always a good girl. My guard has several communications descramblers, which go for a mile radius. If they see anyone, they'll run the descrambler. No one can get or send any communications signal within a mile."  
  
This time Heero didn't have anything to say. Spoiled rich girl, he thought in his head.  
  
Duo had his own thoughts. I wonder if she's doing this as a game, he wondered. Hanging out with her cousin's crew, maybe. Helping out because it seems fun. She's going to get hurt, but she doesn't realize it. Her daddy gives her everything, all the time. It's helpful right now, but it won't get her anywhere. Geez, though. Communications descramblers! Wish *we* had things like that!  
  
Quatre was in the truck carrying his gundam, driven by Rashid. His head was out the window, trying to get fresh air. He was alternately pale and flushed, and Rashid kept looking at him worriedly.  
  
It took several hours to get to Trissa's house, and by then, it was nighttime. Although it was rather hard to see in the dark, the house and property were fairly well-lit with lamps and suchlike all around. Duo had to gasp. Wufei looked disinterested, Heero looked exasperated, and Quatre and Trowa were mentally comparing it to Quatre's house.  
  
"Let's take the trucks that way, to the caverns," Trissa instructed, indicating a side road inside the gates. They drove for a mile or so, coming to large hills. The side of one had an opening with a stone-lined passageway down.  
  
Several hundred feet under the ground was a set of catacombs. Quatre started getting dizzy at the lefts and rights and ups and downs they were going through. Trissa apparently knew her way through this maze exceedingly well.  
  
The escort had left them at the gates, and now it was just the trucks and the carrier. Finally they were at the entrance to a large cavern, fit with catwalks and carriers, rooms of tools and computers to check mobile suits.  
  
"The Manguanacs can fit here, I suppose," Trissa said nonchalantly. There was plenty of space for all 40 Manguanac suits. "We'll put the Gundams in the next room over." The Manguanac carrier stopped there and the trucks moved through another corridor, through a passageway that looked like it didn't exist, and into another large room.  
  
Duo's head was spinning, too. "How are we supposed to find our way here in a hurry?" he asked practically.  
  
"I'll show you in a moment. Wait."  
  
Finally everything was unloaded. Heero hadn't said a word yet, and refused to look around. Instead, he ran a quick check over Wing ZERO to make sure the trip hadn't damaged it in the slightest, then waited for Trissa to lead them to the house.  
  
"Here," Trissa indicated a metal door. "There's one in the cavern with the Manguanac suits; I'll show you tomorrow, okay?" Rashid nodded for them. She pressed the largish button next to the door, and it whipped open. Stretching out in front of them was a large passageway. "Let's go."  
  
"How far are we walking?" Rashid asked suspiciously.  
  
Trissa flicked a light switch. "We're not." She smiled. "Daddy likes to have me test out his new inventions, whenever he comes up with something. My house is full of strange things. This is one of them." She flicked another switch and the floor began to move. "Step aboard," she said lightly.  
  
They all cautiously stepped on, and lurched collectively as the floor swiftly moved them forward.  
  
The floor stopped at a lage intersection.  
  
"We're never going to remember how to get to places," Wufei said flatly. At Trissa's instruction, they stepped onto the large walkway, on the right side, which began moving in a different direction, slowly at first.  
  
"Look," she said, pointing over the walkway they had come out of. In bright letters glared the words 'MS cavern 3'. "The Gundams are in 3, the Manguanac suits are in 2." They soon passed by an opening labeled 'MS cavern 2'.  
  
"This is crazy," Trowa said. "What do you use other caverns *for*?"  
  
Trissa shrugged. The walkway began moving a little faster. "A lot of Daddy's inventions, mostly. I can't keep everything inside the house. Also, they're nice places to have parties, sometimes. Depends with who."  
  
Trowa, by this point, was completely baffled by his cousin. One moment she was a neurotic pyromaniac, to the point that she had had a mobile suit built with immense firepower. She laughing killed people and nonchalantly dismissed her almost-death. On another hand, she was a giggling spoiled idiot, smiling nonstop, making him sick with her cheerfulness. And now she was playing hostess, with a limitless generosity she deemed as nothing. He tried to shake the general confusion out of his head. Trust a relative of his to have many faces.  
  
By this point they had arrived at an indoor gate, which opened at their arrival. Inside was a somewhat large room: the foyer, Duo realized.  
  
"This way," Trissa indicated a door to their left. 45 slightly anxious, somewhat tired soldiers followed. Quatre was about to collapse.  
  
The went through the door, into the opening hall. It looked like a classical home, completely with marble staircase in front of them. They trooped up and to the left. Down the long hallway, and stopped between 2 hallways, one to the left and one to the right.  
  
"I called my maids already so stuff should be ready," Trissa informed them. "There's room for 20 here," she said, indicating the left hallway, "and 20 here," to the right. "In front are 9 rooms; take your pick," she added, gesturing forward.  
  
Duo's jaw had since dropped. "This place is *huge*!" he gasped. Even Quatre and Rashid were impressed.  
  
Manguanacs split into the two side corridors. The gundam pilots walked forward to the 4 rooms on each side, and one at the end. Trissa discretely watched their own discrete movements in picking rooms. "There're connecting doors," she added, cheerfully. "Sets of two on each side. The far one doesn't," she said, almost apologetically.  
  
Wufei, having no difficulty or qualms in picking rooms, walked straight ahead into the last room with his things. Closing the door behind him, it took him 5 minutes to change and get into bed. It was a matter of moments before he fell asleep.  
  
Duo and Heero nudged each other to the last two rooms on the left, and Trowa and Quatre walked towards the two opposite on the right. Trissa giggled to herself at what they were trying to hide, but was fairly obvious to her, then turned and ran down the hallway to her own room.  
  
  
The next morning found several men milling around the intersection of the corridors, trying to find Trissa's room, or the kitchen.  
  
A maid found them there. "Can I help you?"  
  
"Uh," Trowa murmured. Rashid rescued him.  
  
"We're trying to find the room of Miss Trissa -" Duo snorted slightly at what it sounded like "-or the dining room." Rashid looked slightly apologetic. "We're somewhat hungry."  
  
The maid had to laugh. "Miss Skye doesn't awake until noon. I'll take you to the dining room." They were led down the hallway to a wing in the back. There was a large solarium, with doors to dining room, kitchen, and several other rooms, Trowa noted, counting at least 5 doors. "Please wait in here," the maid indicated a large dining room. "I'll bring in breakfast." Slowly the rest of the soldiers, minus Quatre, trailed in.  
  
"Where's Quatre?" Heero asked, setting the question at large.  
  
"He doesn't feel good," Trowa said, slightly worriedly. "I think he has a fever."  
  
Rashid started to get up and attend to his master when Trowa stopped him. "He's still in bed, and I covered him up. I don't think there's anything else we can do right now," he said quietly.  
  
Breakfast was served in steaming dishes of bacon and toast, which they dug into ravenously.  
  
Trowa skimped on breakfast, in a hurry to get back to Quatre. Rashid and he exchanged glances, and both of them left as soon as their appetites were remotely satisfied.  
  
"This," Duo said dramatically, "is probably the best breakfast I've had in a long time."  
  
Meanwhile Trissa was sleeping luxuriously and had just flopped over on to her side, when there was a knock on the door. It didn't wake her. A moment's pause, then a more persistent knock.  
  
Trowa, outside, was prepared to knock down the door. He needed to ask if his cousin had anything for Quatre; Rashid was sitting with Quatre at the moment. Another maid came up and coughed delicately to get his attention.  
  
"She won't wake for a while, and certainly not from knocking," she maid said, as if knowing from experience. "Do you need something?"  
  
"My friend is sick and I want to know if she'd know of a doctor nearby," he said, disgusted at his late-sleeping cousin.  
  
The maid nodded. "We'll call in the family doctor immediately. Which room is your friend in?"  
  
"Uh, the one down the hallway, last one on the right."  
  
The maid ushered him in that direction. "Go wait in there, then. The doctor shouldn't be more than 20 minutes."  
  
Trowa turned around to face Cathrine. Surprised, he almost stumbled. "Cathrine!"  
  
"What?" Cathrine yawned, having just woken up herself. "Down could make me sleep forever," she said, smiling.  
  
"I didn't know you were here," Trowa mumbled.  
  
"Me? Oh, I got here before you and the others. Trissa sent me ahead with a couple of her guards. I ate dinner and went to sleep; I was exhausted."  
  
"Oh." Trowa excused himself, "I need to check on Quatre." He blushed slightly.  
  
Cathrine looked at him. "What's wrong with Quatre?"  
  
"He's sick," Trowa said curtly. He began to walk down the hallway, when he stopped. "Can you come check on him?" There was a note of desperate pleading in his voice. Cathrine caught up with him and they went into Quatre's room together.  
  
He was lying under the covers, flushed and hot. Rashid was kneeling on the floor next to him, bathing his forehead with cool water.  
  
Trowa immediately sat on the edge of the bed and took Quatre's limp, hot hand in his cool ones. "Quatre," he said softly. "Quatre."  
  
"Trowa," Quatre managed to rasp back. He lifted his head a little, but immediately dropped it back on to the pillow.  
  
"How long has he been sick?" Cathrine inquired.  
  
Trowa turned to his sister. "I don't know. He didn't feel well yesterday morning; he was just a little pale, though."  
  
Cathrine turned and began running out the door, saying, "I'm going to find something to take his tem-" and ran into the doctor, entering at the moment.  
  
He was a short, plump man, complete with bushy beard and kindly eyes. "Sit down, my dear. I'll check on the boy." He walked up to the bed. "You're Quatre?" he asked rhetorically, shooing away Rashid and Trowa. "I'm Doctor Meras, the Skye family doctor."  
  
For the next 15 minutes, everyone but the doctor was silent and watching. Doctor Meras gently asked questions as to specific pains, which Quatre tried his best to answer. After asking questions, the doctor called in a maid and asked her to make a draught for him, and he handed her a slip of paper with directions he'd scribbled on it. The maid left.  
  
Soon, Heero and Duo drifted in silently. Wufei wasn't long behind them. All the gundam pilots watched nervously as their fellow pilot tried not to complain, but was obviously in a general state of discomfort.  
  
When the draught arrived, the doctor told Quatre to try and sit up - in the end Rashid had to slowly pull him into an upright position - and sip at the hot liquid. Quatre made a face at the smell and taste, but obeyed.  
  
"What's wrong?" a voice came from the doorway. Trissa was standing there in a long blue dressing gown.  
  
Trowa finally looked over his cousin. She was about his height, maybe a little shorter. Not very tall. He supposed it ran in the family. She had long chestnut brown hair - down to her thighs - a few shades lighter than Duo's and braided in much the same fashion. Her light blue eyes were lined with long lashes, and her skin was tanned. In the light blue dressing gown - sheer silk and edges lined with... fluff; there was no other word for it - she seemed like a princess, Trowa thought cynically. Spoiled enough to be.  
  
"He's sick," Wufei said flatly. Apparently his acceptance of her hospitality did not extend to politeness. Trissa ignored the tone.  
  
"Merry, what's wrong?" she asked her doctor, using a familiar nickname.  
  
Doctor Meras looked up at her. "At least it's not contagious," he began. "But the stress and lack of sleep has intensified an already delicate system, and he seems to have come down with Riyers Syndrome."  
  
[[[*which i made up, hehe*]]]  
  
"What's that?" Trowa demanded. "Will he be okay?"  
  
"If he gets rest, sleep, and something I'll prescribe, fairly likely. The problem is that this is a rare disease," the doctor said seriously. "And what I prescribe cannot be readily found, even within this household," he said wryly, looking at Trissa, who flushed.  
  
"What is it?" Trowa said slowly.  
  
"There is... a place on the moon that grows the plant that can cure him." The doctor shrugged. "The plant is rare, almost as rare as the disease. I've never seen anyone with it. And I don't know how you will be able to get this plant."  
  
The gundam pilots exchanged glances. "Where on the moon is it?"  
  
The doctor was surprised. "How-"  
  
"Just, please, tell them, Merry," Trissa interrupted.  
  
He glanced at her, and shrugged. "It's - wait, I'll write down how you get there from the main transport station." He grabbed a piece of paper and began scrawling. The pilots exchanged glances, and with Rashid.  
  
Soon after the doctor left, talking with Trissa, the boys began discussing it among themselves, in Quatre's room. Trowa had returned to his spot on the edge of Quatre's bed, holding his hand.  
  
"It's right next to an OZ base," Heero said flatly. "Actually, it may even be inside the base." He looked at the directions again. "They know what we all look like, now."  
  
Trowa looked all around. "I'm not asking any of you to go," he began softly.  
  
"We can't just let you go alone," Duo pointed out.  
  
Instead of answering, Trowa looked at Quatre's face, with his closed eyes, sleeping.  
  
"You're not going alone," Duo added.  
  
"Yes I am," Trowa said, not turning around. "I can't make you risk your lives for this." He reached out and touched Quatre's cheek gently.  
  
"You're not going alone," Heero stated. He said it like he left no room for argument.  
  
Trowa didn't answer. 


End file.
